How Did George Washington Make Whiskey?

[@tombrown3072]

I havent been to Mt Vernon since I was a kid, I have to go back soon. So glad history was a big part of my childhood.

[@duanescarborough8297]

Mount Vernon sure sounds like a good place for this years vacation. I'll check out the website. Thanks !

[@zuzannawisniewska4464]

I've never been to Mount Vernon , but maybe someday I'll go

[@heru-deshet359]

I visited Mt. Vernon and went to the mill of which the restoration had just been completed.

[@1218Draco]

So ... ole Georgy said “I’m done, y’all” & went on to make hooch? Best post-presidency ever!

[@richardpeterson3753]

he wasn't alone ol honest Abe dabbled to lol.our founding fathers where certified gangsters lol.atf may bust our balls for carrying on tradition,but this country was built on shine lol.

[@insightvideo6136]

Thanks for this great video!

[@johnhavens776]

In modern day distillation, you can monitor the temperature with dial thermometer in the pot or if it is a reflux configuration in the tower and control the heat to figure out when the run of the heads is about done, but in the 18th century, you could not really regulate the heat from the fire or check the temperature. How were they able to determine what was heads and what was the body? just dead reckoning by timing and experience or did they have some sort of chemical test?

[@mountvernon]

Hi John, Thanks for your interest. We sent your question to Steve Bashore and this was his response: ______ You are correct, that in a modern distillery, control of temperature is able to be done, with great accuracy. In our setting running the wood fired pot stills, we have through experience learned how to control the temperature, but we do not have a dial to tell us exactly what temperature we are running. We are more concerned with regulating the fire evenly, so there are limited spikes in temperature. To accomplish this, we have learned how to start and build and then feed the proper amount of wood, and size of the wood, to the fire. We are able to tell when a still will come on line, by feeling the copper of the head, and line arm as it works it way to the worm tube. Even and gradual build up of the fire is critical, especially when running mash. You do not want your distillate to come off the still warm, it will negatively impact flavor and yield. Once the still comes on line determining where to make the heads cut is done by nose and taste. The heads will contain methanol, and others compounds that you do not want in your spirit, nor do you want to consume these. When the still starts flowing, we nose and taste (very small amounts) and can taste these compounds and it is akin a green apple taste, smell. We continue to assess this in the first few minutes of the still flowing, and then you will start to taste the rye flavor and the beginning of the hearts, at this point we make our heads cut. With time and experience we have become better at this. If the cuts are not made properly, they will appear in the flavor of the final spirits. Sometimes heads will come through in a tasting of the final spirit as a banana flavor note. So the answer is that this is done and was done in the earlier centuries by taste and smell. The same holds for making the cut before the distillation run goes into tails. Tails will taste like dish water, soapy, light, watery, compared to your hearts. Where you decide to make this cut depends on the distiller, but we track this through taste, and make that call each day we run.

[@yearginclarke]

@@mountvernon I like how this is done traditionally without modern equipment.

[@royhendershot]

Curious was that a gas line going into the firebox? I could see some sort of line going in on the backside of the firebox.

[@rushbayou5230]

oooo.... i wanna build one of these ;)

[@YouMockMe]

Awesome, thanks!

[@mackinleyfarmer7134]

How do you keep from scorching the wash?

[@richardpeterson3753]

you might reconsider how you got those stills installed.any repairs to the pots would require tearing out that brick and mortar.

[@JohnnyBGood-bl9tx]

I want some of that product.

[@mountvernon]

Fortunately they are available to purchase from our gift shop. www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/distillery/distilled-spirits-at-mount-vernon/

[@jolllyroger1]

And it was done without revenuers robbing the business for taxes

[@mountvernon]

Well... maybe not entirely. www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/the-first-president/whiskey-rebellion/

[@thewizardofcroagz394]

@@mountvernon Thank You and Thank You George, you are "Still" alive to some of us!!!

[@warman31]

I'm sure he did an open fermentation with wild airborne yeast. Is that what they do to this day?

[@mountvernon]

Actually, we do not use a wild yeast, neither did Washington. He purchased yeast from a brewery, and then cultivated that to set his fermentations.

[@warman31]

Oh... thank you. You have got to have a lot of bootleggers picking your brain and trying to figure out how to do this

[@mountvernon]

@@warman31 We do but we always enjoy questions, both during a visit and online.

[@LUCKYB.]

What was the mix for a 200 gallon pot again 😜

[@PeteSmoot]

I wonder how long it fermented for. It sounds like overnight was all it took. That seems really fast.

[@mountvernon]

Pete Smoot, it fermented for 3 days.

[@PunchHisFace]

@@mountvernon I noticed they distilled on the grain too.

[@mountvernon]

Hi @@PunchHisFace. You are correct the grain that's processed in the gristmill just across the way is used in our whiskey products, just as Washington would have done. You can see our full array of spirits produced here: www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/distillery/distilled-spirits-at-mount-vernon/

[@TheSilverSphincter69]

was the common man allowed to distill whiskey without any government say so

[@TheMrpiggyboy]

A cash crop to maintain the farm.

[@scottbivins4758]

Did Washington an them know about throwing out the heads?

[@СергейЮренко-д8м]

Малодцы унучки маи 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺✝➕✝

[@U.S.SlaveOfficial]

well first he eliminated competition via liquor tax

[@igot99problemsbutmyaltaint81]

@Mike Hunt LuL, sick burn

[@dougshelton69]

Legend has it that Georges teeth were replaced with wood because of drunken bar fights with people who said his whiskey tasted like mule piss.... 😁🇺🇸❤

[@damarmar1001]

Who cares. He's dead